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A study was conducted between May 2013 and August 2014 in three provinces of Vietnam to investigate financial impacts of swine diseases in pig holdings in 2010-2013. The aim of the study was to quantify the costs of swine diseases at producer level in order to understand swine disease priority for monitoring at local level. Financial impacts of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome ( PRRS), foot and mouth disease ( FMD), and epidemic diarrhoea were assessed for 162 pig holders in two Red River Delta provinces and in one Mekong River Delta province, using data on pig production and swine disease outbreaks at farms. Losses incurred by swine diseases were estimated, including direct losses due to mortality (100% market value of pig before disease onset) and morbidity (abortion, delay of finishing stage), and indirect losses due to control costs (treatment, improving biosecurity and emergency vaccination) and revenue foregone (lower price in case of emergency selling). Financial impacts of swine diseases were expressed as percentage of gross margin of pig holding. The gross margin varied between pig farming groups ( P < 0.0001) in the following order: large farm ( USD 18 846), fattening farm ( USD 7014) and smallholder ( USD 2350). The losses per pig holding due to PRRS were the highest: 41% of gross margin for large farm, 38% for fattening farm and 63% for smallholder. Cost incurred by FMD was lower with 19%, 25% and 32% of gross margin of pig holding in large farm, fattening farm and smallholder, respectively. The cost of epidemic diarrhoea was the lowest compared to losses due to PRRS and FMD and accounted for around 10% of gross margin of pig holding in the three pig farming groups. These estimates provided critical elements on swine disease priorities to better inform surveillance and control at both national and local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Heavy rainfall months of more than 450 mm occur in all 56 meteorological stations in eight climatic zones of Vietnam during the rainy season from April to September in the north (>20°N), from August to December in the centre and from May to November in the south (<12°N). The severity of an El Niño Southern Oscillation ( ENSO) episode, expressed as the integral of sea surface temperature anomaly ( SSTA) in the central tropical Pacific over the duration, shows a 4.6-fold (2.3-fold) increase in number of heavy rainfall months during La Niña (El Niño) per unit change in severity during the 1960-2009 period, suggesting a twin peak occurrence with both ENSO extremes. A heavy rainfall index ( HRI) links heavy rainfall months to the rainy season duration, and allows evaluation of the rainfall severity per station, climatic zone and ENSO cycle. For the deltas and central climatic zones, seasonal rainfall and number of heavy rainfall months are significantly higher at the p < 0.05 level during La Niña than during El Niño episodes. Interpolated seasonal rainfall shows distinct differences between regions, with location having a larger effect than ENSO cycles on monthly rainfall amounts. Twenty-year return monthly rainfall derived from generalized Pareto distributions for peak over thresholds range from 475 mm in the central highlands to 2185 mm in the central coast. The spatial and temporal patterns of heavy monthly rainfall help explain flooding and paddy inundation which occur at least twice as frequent during La Niña as compared to El Niño conditions, particularly in Central Vietnam. The relation of HRI with both 20-year return levels and ENSO cycles offers opportunities for fast screening of impacts in a wider region of Southeast Asia. Because ENSO cycles have an impact on flooding and paddy inundation, it provides prospects for early warning, differentiated for different zones and rainfall regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]